Five-lens photographic objective comprising three members separated by air spaces



y 14, 1953 A. w. TRONNIER 2,645,156

' FIVE-LENS PHOTOGRAPHIC OBJECTIVE COMPRISING THREE MEMBERS SEPARATED BY AIRSPACE Filed Sept. 12, 1950 FIG. l.

FIG. 2.

INVENTOR.

ALB ECHT W LHELM I'RGA/IV/Ei? BY /ZAW A TTORNE KS Patented July 14, 1953 FIVE-LENS PHOTOGRAPHIC OBJECTIVE COMPRISING THREE MEMBERS SEP- ARATED BY AIR SPACES Albrecht Wilhelm Tronnier, Gottingen, Germany,

assignor to Voigtlander 85 Sohn Aktiengesellschaft, Braunschweig, Germany, a corporation of Germany Application September 12, 1950, Serial No. 184,455 In Switzerland October 17, 1949 This invention relates to a five-lens photographic objective comprising three members separated by intermediate air spaces. It has particular relation to a new and improved five-lens photographic objective of this type, in which each of the two outer members is composed of two individual lenses of opposite power, which are cemented together in such a manner that the cemented contact surface has a converging effect. Objectives of this type were first suggested and developed by H. l-larting in 1899-1900 and are known in the art as Heliar-type objectives.

One of the objects of the present invention consists in providing new and improved Heliar-type objectives of high light-transmitting capacity, showing improved quality of the photographic image in the lateral portions of the field of vision.

Another object of my invention is to provide new and improved Heliar-type objectives of high light-transmitting capacity, showing a particularly fine correction, outside the optical axis, of chromatic transverse aberrations for several colors, i. e. over a relatively wide spectral range. Numerous other objects, advantages and features of the invention are set forth in the following description and the annexed drawings which include a preferred example of the invention to which the invention is not limited.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical axial section of the improved objective, taken along its optical axis. The horizontal optical axis is indicated by the horizontal arrow, which also indicates the direction of the light, from the left to right. The object space is at the left of the objective, and the image space is at the right of the objective.

Figure 2 is a view substantially similar to that shown in Figure 1 andincludes certain reference symbols explained in detail further below.

The photographic objective of my invention is composed of five lenses and comprises the following members arranged in the direction of light to the photographic image: (a) a front member consisting of two cemented lenses of opposite power, the front lens of which is a converging lens and has a refractive index distinctly higher than 1.63 for yellow light: the cemented contact surface of said lenses has a converging effect and the equivalent focal length of said front member is in the range of 40/ 100 to 60/100 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective; (1)) a diverging lens of unequal curvature, separated from said front member by an air-space, consisting of highly refractive barium-fiint-glass having an Abbe number higher than 42, the curvature of said diverging lens being defined by the quotient resulting from division of its front radius by its rear radius, being in the range of 2.38 to 3.43, the focal length of said diverging lens being in the range of 22/100 to 44/l00- of the equivalent focal length of the total objective; (0) an airspace containing the diaphragm; (d) a converging rear member consisting of two cemented lenses of opposite-power, the rear lens of which is a'biconvex converging lens and has a refractive index higher than 1.675 for yellow light, said lenses having a converging cemented contact surface convex relative to the diaphragm, the focal length of said rear'member being in the range of 45/100 to of the equivalent focal length of the total objective.

The above mentioned focal lengths are the reciprocal values of the corresponding refractive powers, which are expressed for the individual refractive surface by the quotient resulting from division of the difference of refractive numbers of the media in front of and behind the refractive surface, by its radius of curvature, i. e.

if R.- for any surface 2'. They form a fraction of the equivalent refractive power of the total objective and can be, therefore, defined by the general value of the radius of each surface, referred to the equivalent focal length. In this connection, the objective shows the following structural design:

R4 and Ra meet the special condition with the cemented front member which is ar ranged on the side of the longer conjugate and has a distinct converging effect, it has a relatively low negative or at most a weak positive combined refractive power, and, therefore, the course of parallel rays incident in the total system on the side of the longer conjugate, shows only a weakly divergent or almost parallel or at most a weakly convergent inclination relative to the optical axis between the inner biconcave lens of unequal curvature and the subsequent strongly converging cemented member located on the side of the shorter conjugate, i. e. in the rear airspace, used mostly as diaphragm space.

In order to obtain an improved image quality in the lateral portions of the field of vision, also in the case of Heliar-type objectives of very high light transmitting capacity, with special consideration of a particularly fine correction of chromatic transverse aberrations for several colors, i. e. over a relatively wide spectral range, in the improved objectives of high light transmitting capacity according to the present invention the lenses having the strongest individual refractive powers, i. e. primarily the two converging individual lenses of the cemented outer members, and the inner diverging lens, are made of barium glass, whereby, by the selection of glass, the secondary and tertiary chromatic aberrations can be reduced. For this purpose, the two converging lenses are made of barium-crown or specialbarium-crown glass, while said biconcave lens of unequal curvature is made of a barium-flint glass, whereby the advantage of the relatively proportional course of the individual partial dispersions between barium-crown and barium-flint glasses is utilized for the reduction of chromatic residual aberrations of higher order.

According to the invention disclosed in my copending U. S. patent application for Five-lens Photographic Objective filed under Ser. No. 183,967 on September 9, 1950, in order to satisfactorily meet the Schwarzschild condition, in the objectives disclosed and claimed in said copending application, the converging lenses present in each of the two cemented outer members consist, of glass of high refractive power, the refraction index of which for yellow light is distinctly higher thanl.63; moreover, the individual inner biconcave lens of unequal curvature consistsof glass of likewise high refractive power, the Abbe number 1/ of which is higher than 42, whereby the range of barium flints is made available for this lens. Moreover, this uncemented negative lens is designed to meet the condition is the radius of the front curvature, on the side of the longer conjugate, of the inner diverging lens;

III H III and the design according to my invention of the 4 inner diverging barium-flint lens of unequal curvature must meet the condition By elimination of the aperture number Z by the aperture number f/3.5 of the example, said condition can be expressed as follows:

the limits being i. e. the lowest limit, and

i. e. the highest limit for the curvature of lens L3.

I have now found that a particularly fine correction of image defects can be obtained in objectives of very high light transmitting capacity embodying the invention disclosed in my above mentioned co-pending application by the use of certain steps forming the subject matter of my present invention.

According to these steps, the optical glasses forming the objective are arranged within the objective in such a manner that the glass of the converging lens on the side of the minor conjugate has a mean refraction index higher than 1.575 for yellow light and, simultaneously, the refraction index, for the same color, of the negative lens cemented together with said converging lens is distinctly smaller than the arithmetical mean of the refraction indices, for the same light, of the two other diverging lenses located in the direction of the major conjugate.

The object of my present invention, i. e. the obtaining of a substantially improved lateral image quality also in the use of objectives of very high light-transmitting capacity, is very satisfactorily attained by the before-mentioned selection of refraction indices of the glasses. For example, the highest astigmatic difference of 0.70 to 0.75%, within a field of vision, which is overlappedby aninclination of principal rayswith reference to the diaphragm space-of 30 relative to the optical axis, can be reduced to less than its half; i. .e. to about 0.35% of the equivalent focal length of the total objective, an excellent correction of coma in these lateral image portions being obtained simultaneously.

Investigations made in connection with the present invention have shown that in the before-mentioned lateral image portions the residual; chromatic aberrations too, may be particularly finely corrected, if in accordance with my invention within the range of the principle relative to the selection of the refraction indices the glasses are specifically selected in such a manner that on the two chromatically over-correcting: cemented surfaces the distribution of the dispersions corresponds to the following conditions: The sum of the differences of 11-V2t1ll6S on both cemented surfaces is distinctly higher than 27.5 and simultaneously the v-Vallle difference on the cemented surface turned to the side of the major conjugate is greater than but smaller than 205% of the value difference of the glasses; which limit the other cemented surface turned to the side of the minor conjugate. For example, it is hereby possible to keep the chromatic difference of image height between the blue and yellow principal ray, the inclination of which in the diaphragm space toward the optical axis is 28.0 ,'smaller than W w of the equivalent focal length of the total objective.

Thus, a decisive improvement of the Heliartype objectives has been attained by the con- 6. because this arithmetical mean amounts to structive and structural steps according to the 5 re ative to the same color. present invention. Even at the high relative The v-value difference in the front member is aperture of 1:35 and higher, the improved obv1v2=58.638.4=20.2. The v-value difference jectives of my invention show an outstanding in the rear member is 1151I4=53.540.6=12.9. sphero-chromatic correction and a secondary 105% of 12.9 amount to 13.545 and 205% of 12.9 spectrum reduced to such an extent that, den amount to 26.445. Thus v11 2=20.2iS distinctly pending on their specific construction, these obgreater than 13.545 and distinctly smaller than jectives are half-apochromates or even show a 26.44. regular apochromatic correction. Furthermore, the sum of these two v-value dif- The following table illustrates, by way of exferences, i. e. 20.2+l2.9 amounts to 33.1, i. e. it is ample, an embodiment of the new objectives of distinctly greater than 27.5. The refraction inthe present invention, which, at a relative aperdex of L5, i. e. 1.69347, is distinctly higher than ture of 1:3.5, shows an anastigmatically fiatthe refraction index of L1, i. e. 1.65110. Moretened image field of almost 60, an excellent over, the distance L5:-L3 =az+d4=0.09028, i. e. sphero-chromatic correction and a particularly the distance between the converging lens L5 of fine removal of chromatic lateral aberrations in high refractive power and the inner individual the lateral image portions. diverging lens L3 is distinctly greater than the In accordance with Figure 2, in this example distance L1+L3=d2+a1=0.05370, i. e. the distance the radii of curvature of the lens surfaces are between lens L3 and the converging lens L1 of denoted R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, Re; the axial lower refractive power. thickness of the lenses d1, d2, d3, d4, (Z5 and their Furthermore, the values of m and m are: distance by a1, m. The diaphragm B is located m=1.61282 and 115:1.69347. The arithmetical on the side of the minor conjugate in the rear mean of these refraction indices, amounts to air-space a2. The distance of the diaphragm from 1,668,145, i. e. it is distinctly greater than the adjacent surface vertices having the radii R5 n1-=1.65110. and Re. is denoted b1 and 112, respectively. The A preferred embodiment of this invention has glasses used are characterized by their mean rebeen described, but numerous changes, omissions, fraction index and the Abb number 1 The additions, and substitutions can be made withlenses are denoted L1, L2, L3. L4, L5 and their mean out departing from its scope. refraction indices, for yellow light, n1, 112, m, m What is claimed is: and m, respectively. 1. Photographic objective composed of five The equivalent focal length of the embodiment le ses, w ch Comprises the fO OW members shown in this example is 1.0000 and the paraxial arranged in the direction of light to the photointersectional width for the object of infinite disgraphic image: (a) a front member consisting tancesis denoted p11. The efiective system aperof two cemented lenses of opposite power, the ture amounts to 0.2857. front lens of which is a converging lens and has A focal length of 1:200 mm. has been assumed a refractive index distinctly higher than 1.63 for for the objective according to the invention shown ye110W light, the Cemented Contact Surface of d in the drawing. lenses having a converging effect and the equiv- The focal lengths of the members of the obalent focal length of said front member being in jective according to the following example are: the range f 40/100 0 /100 of the equivalent f 483 F focal length of the total objective; (1)) a diverg- 1 f3= 0324F mg lens of unequal curvature, separatedfrom f4 =0 612 F said front member by an air-space, consistlng of a highly refractive barium-flint-glass having an The exact values of radii, thicknesses and dis- 50 Abb number 11 higher than 42, the curvature of tances which yield the above focal lengths, and said diverging lens being defined by the quotient the characteristics of the respective glasses are of its front radius and rear radius being in the stated in the following table. range of 2.38 to 3.4 the focal length of said Table [F=1.0000 1:3.5 p'=o.s2o31 R,=+o.3oso9 a1=o. c1102 n =l. 65110 1=5s.6 R1: 0.s934e dz=0. 01849 m= 1. 60266 v2=38. 4 R3=+5.so3os a1=0.03521 air R4=0. 80630 111:0. 01849 m=1. 64282 v3=47. 9 R5=+0.2ss44 b1=0.04625 ag=0. 07179 diaphragm space b1=o. 02554 Ra=infinite d4=0. 01849 114:1. 58241 v4=40. s R1=+0.32195 ds=0. 07271 m=l. 69347 vs=53. 5 rap-0.52991 As shown in the table, 115:1.69347, i. e. disdiverging lens being in the range of 22/100 to tinctly greater than 1.675 relative to yellow light; 44/100 of the equivalent focal length of the simultaneously, 114:1.58241 and this value is distotal objective; (0) an air-space containing the tinctly smaller than diaphragm; (d) a converging rear member conr n +n sisting of two cemented lenses of opposite power, 2 the rear lens of which is a biconvex converging 76 lens and has a refractive index higher than 7 i.6'75- for ye11ow light, said lenses having a converging cemented contact surface convex relative to the diaphragm, the focal length of said rear member being in the range of 45/100 to 75/100 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective. 2i Photographic '-'--ob'jective composed of five lenses; which-cljmpri'ses the following members arranged-in the direction of light to the photographic im'agez (a) a front member consisting of two cement'ed'lenses of Opposite power, the front lens er which is a converging lens and has a refractive index distinctly higher than 1.63 for yellow light, the cemented contact surface of said lenses having-a converging effect and the equivalent' f'ocal length of said front member being in t'he range-or 40/ 100 to 60/100 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective; (b) a diverging lens of unequal curvature, separated from said-front member by an air-space, consisting'of highly refractive bar'ium-fiint-glass having an Abb number higher than 42, the curvature of said diverging lens being defined by the quotient of its front radius and rear radius being in the range of 2.38 to 3.43, the focal length of said diverging lens-being in the range of 22/l00 to -44/l00 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective; ana-i'rspa'ce containing the diaphragm; (d) a-converging rear member consisting of two cemented lenses of opposite power, the rear lens of which is a bico'rivex converging lens and has a refractive index higher than 1.675 for yellow light, said lenses having a converging cemented contact surface convex relative to the diaphragm, the'focal length of said rear member being in the range of 45/100 to TE/1006f the equivalent focal length of the total objective; the radii of curvature of the individual r'efiac'tiv'esurfacs, having the following values:

[0324' F R'1 0.48 F

"'0';l8F .Rz 1.68 F FiR 3 0:6 8 F R4 F 0.20'F R5 0.36 F F iRe 0.214 F R1 0.48 F :D.3 6UF R8 0.72 F

m andfis nieeting the special condition 'wi-ierein Fstar'ids-for the equivalent focal length of the=ttal obj ectiv Z is the aperture" number of the initial relative aperture of the total objective and R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, are the radii of curvature of the lens surfaces arranged in the direction of light to the photographicimage.

3. Photographic objective composed of five lenses, which comprises the following members arranged in the direction of light to the photographic image: (a) a front member consisting of two cemented lenses of opposite power, the front lens of which is a converging lens and has a refractive index distinctly higher than 1.63 for yellow light, the cemented contact surface of said lenses having a converging effect and the equivalent focal length of said front member amounting to about 48/ 100 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective; (1)) a" diverging lens of unequal curvature;.separated from sa'id'front member by a'niairr-space;consisting of' highly refractive bar'ium-fiinteglas'shaving an Abbnumber v lhighert'thanr ffli the"- curvature of said diverging 'le'ns' beingdefined by the quotient of its front radius and rear radius being in the range of 2.38 to 3.43, the focal length of said diverging lens amounting'to about 32/100 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective; (0) an air-space containing the diaphragm; (d) a converging rear member consisting of twoc'emented lenses ofoppo'site power, the rear lens of which is a biconvex converginglens and has a refractive index higher than 1-.675 for yellowlight, said lenses having a converging cemented contact surface convex relative to the diaphragm, the focal length of said rear member amounting to about 61/100 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective.

4. Photographic objective composed of five lenses, which comprises the following members arranged in the direction of light to the photo-' graphic image: (a) a front member consisting of two cemented lenses of opposite power, the front lens of which is a-converging lens and has a refractive inde'x distinctly higher than 1.63 for yellow light, the cemented contact surface of said lenses having a converging effect andthe equivalent focal length of said front member amounting'to about 18/ 100 of the equivalent focal length of the total objective; (b) a diverging lens of unequal curvature'separated'from said front member by an-airespace'consis'ting of highly refrac tive barium fiint-glass having an Abb number 1 higher than-42, the curvature of said diverging leiis bei'ng'defined by the quotient of its front radius and rear radius'being in the range of 2.38 to 3.43, the-focal length of said diverging lens amounting to about 32/100 of the equivalent focal length of'the' total objective; (0) an air-' space containing the diaphragm; (d) a convergrear member consisting of two cemented lensesof opposite power, the rear lens of which is a hiconvex converging lens and has a refractive higher-man 116 for yel-lw' light;- said lenses having a converging cemented contact surface convex relative to the'diaphragm, the focal length of said rear member amounting to about 61/ 100 of the equivalent focal leng tfr ofthe total objective; the focal lengths of said members being' reciprocal values of the-corresponding refractive powers and having-the following values for the individual'refractive surfaces:

13 is about+'% F R is about- R3 is about-{ F R4 15 HIbOHt-TNIF R is about+ F R is aboutd: m

R 1S about- F R is about-F radii of curvature of the lens surfaces arranged in the direction of light to the photographic image.

ALBRECHT WJLHELM TRONNIER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 716,035 Harting Dec. 16, 1902 "765,006

Harting July 12, 1904 Number Number 

